Performance of laying hens provided water from two sources

The effect of drinking water source (well vs. city water) on laying hen per formance was evaluated using 48 commercial layers (64 wk of age) housed in an environmentally controlled facility at a density of two birds per cage ( 12 " x 18 "). After a 10-day adjustment period, four replicate groups (six hens each) were provided water from a commercial egg production farm (drill ed well) and the other four groups were provided city water for 4 wk of egg production. The results indicated that water quality differed between the two water sou rces. A water analysis revealed that the farm well water had sodium and chl oride concentrations of 190 and 210 ppm, respectively, compared to sodium a nd chloride concentrations of 29 and 80 ppm, respectively, for the city wat er. Average water consumption for the 4-wk experiment was significantly low er for hens consuming the well water. Egg weight, feed consumption, feed ef ficiency, egg specific gravity, and manure moisture were not affected by wa ter source. These results indicate that the quality of drinking water may a ffect layer performance.